Conventionally, a magnetron parallel plate type substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 10 is known as a substrate processing apparatus for processing a semiconductor wafer W as a substrate.
This magnetron parallel plate type substrate processing apparatus 500 has a cylindrical processing-chamber vessel 501, which has an upper electrode 513 disposed at a top portion thereof and a cylindrical lower electrode 504 disposed at a lower portion thereof. For clamping a semiconductor wafer W, an ESC (electrostatic chuck) 502, which is surrounded by a focus ring 503 is mounted on the lower electrode 504. An isolation plate 507 is disposed adjacent to a top portion of the lower electrode 504 to separate the interior of the processing-chamber vessel 501 into a processing region 505 and a gas exhaust region 506. A gas exhaust port 508 is disposed at the lower portion of the processing-chamber vessel 501 to evacuate the processing region 505 under negative pressure through the gas exhaust region 506. Further, a loading/unloading opening 509 for the semiconductor wafer W is disposed on a wall facing the processing region 505.
Further, while the upper electrode 513 is grounded, the lower electrode 504 is connected to at least one high frequency power supply 511 via a matching circuit 510, and an annular permanent magnet 512 is disposed around an upper part of the processing-chamber vessel 501.
Regarding the substrate processing apparatus 500, the processing region 505, into which a processing gas is introduced through gas outlet holes disposed in the upper electrode 513, is controlled to a predetermined pressure level through negative pressure evacuation. Further, the high frequency power supply 511 excites a high frequency electric field in the processing region 505 located between the upper electrode 513 and the lower electrode 504 while the permanent magnet 512 generates a parallel magnetic field perpendicular to the high frequency electric field. A high density plasma is generated from the processing gas by the high frequency electric field and the parallel magnetic field perpendicular thereto, and the plasma performs a desired processing on the semiconductor wafer W.
In the substrate processing apparatus 500, maintenance of expendable parts such as the focus ring 503 is important; and in order to reduce the number of steps required for programming a maintenance program that conducts an operation test, which is one of the confirmation items during maintenance, a method that pre-registers the operation of components such as the focus ring 503, whereby each registered operation is combined at will to set up sequential and/or parallel operations thereof to write a maintenance macro file, has been known (e.g., see Patent Publication 1).
Meanwhile, in the substrate processing apparatus 500, a process executing unit (not shown), which has a CPU and other components that are installed in pertinent substrate the processing apparatus 500, executes a loading/unloading sequence of the semiconductor wafer W or an execution control sequence of a recipe, i.e., an individual processing program of the substrate processing apparatus, on control parameters (control target values of temperature, pressure, gas type and flow rate, time and the like) for the substrate processing (process) by way of operating various devices such as the above-described upper electrode 513 based on a program generated from compiled source codes that express sequences of various processes in a predetermined programming language. Recently, however, since a precise reproducibility is required in a process as etching patterns of a semiconductor wafer W are getting finer, parameter items need to be prescribed in further detail while an execution of a recipe appropriate for an individual substrate processing apparatus is necessary.
As a result, since recipes for a process should be customized to the substrate processing apparatus 500, although process experiments need to be conducted repeatedly with respect to the substrate processing apparatus 500, parameter items, however, are prescribed in the pertinent recipes in further detail as mentioned above, so that continual updating of the change in contents of the sequences including the executed recipes results from the increase of the kinds of recipes to be executed in the process experiments. Further, the changes in the content of the sequences refer to changes in the order of device operations, contents of the operations, waiting time, and the like.
Moreover, with respect to a source code, in addition to the execution control sequence of recipes as previously mentioned, a sequence of an interlock process about the operation of the substrate processing apparatus 500 and a sequence of a recovery process related to the interlock process are described.
By the sequences of the interlock and the recovery process, the operation of each device of the substrate processing apparatus 500 is controlled based on a predetermined condition when the sequence of the loading/unloading of a semiconductor wafer W or the execution control sequence of the recipe is executed; and, further, for example, an alarm is activated to warn the user when the operation of each device based on the predetermined condition is controlled. In addition, accompanying the frequent changes in the contents of sequences including the recipes recently executed, content changes of the sequence of an interlock and recovery process concerning the interlock are frequently made as well.
Further, the substrate processing apparatus such as a magnetron parallel plate type substrate processing apparatus is usually placed in a clean room in order to prevent contaminants from sticking to a semiconductor wafer W. The substrate processing apparatus has an operation panel, which displays a list made of multiple operation items. Further, the user needs to go to the clean room, when controlling the substrate processing apparatus, in order to select a desired operation item from the list on the operation panel for operating the apparatus. Therefore, the user can operate the substrate processing apparatus while watching it on the spot.
However, since cases exist where the user need not observe firsthand the substrate processing apparatus depending on the content of operations, for example, releasing a stoppage caused by a minor trouble. It is undesirable for the user to go to the clean room for such a type of operation from the perspective of an operation efficiency. Therefore, a substrate processing system capable of remote-controlling the substrate processing apparatus from a remote location such as an office, without a need for the user to be present in the clean room, has been proposed (hereinafter referred to as a “remote control system”).
As such a remote control system, a substrate processing system including a substrate processing apparatus and a remote terminal provided at a place away from the substrate processing apparatus is well known in the art. The remote terminal has a display device and software for displaying contents similar to those displayed by the operation panel on the display device. Specifically, an industrial apparatus management system, as shown in FIG. 11, which includes a factory 700, a vendor 800 located at a place remote from the factory 700 and a data communication network 900 for connecting the factory 700 and the vendor 800 is known in the art (for example, Patent Publication 2).
With respect to the management system, the factory 700 has an industrial apparatus 710, a management apparatus 720 for managing the industrial apparatus, and a factory-side controller 730 for controlling the industrial apparatus 710 through the management apparatus 720 while the vendor 800 has a vendor-side controller 810.
The management apparatus 720 has a management program 722 for controlling the management system; the factory-side controller 730 has a control program for controlling the controller's operation; and the vendor-side controller 810 has a control program 813 for controlling the operation thereof.
The management program 722 assigns an authority for the operation of the industrial apparatus 710 to either the factory-side controller 730 or the vendor-side controller 810. When the authority is assigned to the vendor-side controller 810, the vendor-side controller 810 can remotely control the industrial apparatus 710 through the management apparatus 720. Accordingly, the vendor 800 can optimize parameters of the industrial apparatus 710, and resolve troubling symptoms thereof.
As described above, in the conventional remote control systems, each of the substrate processing apparatus and the remote terminal has operation control software for controlling the operation of the corresponding apparatus, and the remote control of the substrate processing apparatus is achieved through communications among the softwares.
[Patent Publication 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-43290 (FIG. 3)
[Patent Publication 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-163016 (FIG. 1)
However, in the invention disclosed in Patent Publication 1, it is required to rewrite source codes every time the content of the sequence is changed, which is difficult for a person other than a software engineer to carry out. Further, after rewriting the source codes, executable software needs to be created in order to execute the sequence, by linking programs that are generated by compiling the source codes. Accordingly, a problem exists such that frequent changes of the sequence contents require increased number of works by the software engineer. Further, such changes in the contents the sequence accompany content changes in the sequence of the interlock and the recovery process, which may extensively affect parts other than the element subjected to the change, so that the number of the works of the software engineer is further increased. As a result, the number of processes required for the creation of a program concerning sequences needs to be reduced as in the case of the maintenance program described before.
Further, since there exist two different kinds of operation control software in the remote control system of Patent Publication 2, the number of processes demanded for the creation of the software is considerably large. Moreover, if software of one side is upgraded, the other ones should also be upgraded, thereby creating the problem of expanding the number of processes for managing the software.